The Boy That Stole My Heart

CHAPTER NINE

    "Sorry it took so long," Logan said, throwing down his backpack and falling backwards onto my bed with an exhausted sigh. "My moms lost their minds. They were running around in a frenzy and I actually had to watch them Google "things my child needs for a sleepover." It was the saddest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I had to have the "I'm not a little kid argument" just to keep them from packing that stupid stuffed monkey."
    I snorted softly. "You mean Rothschild? Nice try. I've literally heard you talking to him."
    "I wasn't!"
    "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Here, I wanna show you something," I told him, digging around in the chest at the end of my bed, producing a stuffed bear wearing overalls, with a pair of mittens sewed onto it's arms and a pair of tiny Converse on it's legs. "This is Sir Mittens, Knight of Nanthom, Protector of the Vale, Destroyer of Evil and Shield of the Innocent. He's got a little sword around here somewhere."
    Logan was looking at me with the same expression he got when he watched cat videos, his cheeks flushing a pretty pink color. "Why Mittens?"
    "How else would he hold his sword?" I asked as if it was obvious. "My dad did it for me when I was little. He is the most important thing I own. So if you need help sleeping... There is no killer in the closet, no monster under the bed, or nightmare in your head that he cannot defeat."
    He accepted the bear gently, rubbing his thumbs over it's worn ears. "There's.... So much more to you than you show people Ellis."
    I didn't know what to say to that so instead I told him, "He's just temporary. You can use him until you trust me enough to protect you."
    Things were awkward for a few moments until we brushed it off and played some Xbox, easily falling back into our old routine with me winning and him grumbling. We did what all teenage boys do during a sleepover, eating too much and drinking wayyyyy too many sodas, deciding on scary movies that we wouldn't watch alone in some boyish competition to show the other how manly we were and there were several times during the Nun and the Nun 2 that had me checking over my shoulder and wanting to snatch Mr Mittens from where Logan had him hugged to his chest.
    It was late... Or early depending on how you looked at it, when Logan laid his head onto my shoulder and I looked over to find that he had fallen asleep, snoring softly. I felt my heart do a weird fluttering thing that couldn't possibly be good as his breath, warm and moist, blew across my neck, sending tingles through my body, causing me to shiver and my belly grew tight.
    I won't pretend I didn't perv out on him for a minute, imagining what his lips would feel like if I leaned down and kissed him, but then I noticed Mr Mittens shooting me an angry look and I knew that wasn't something a Knight of the Vale would do. Instead I lifted him easily into my arms and carried him to the bed, pulling off his socks and tucking him under the blankets with the bear. He brought a sleeping bag but the truth was that I didn't want him to use it, preferring him to be exactly where he was as I turned off the TV and climbed in next to him, not touching but close enough to feel the heat of his body.